From Greendale to Hollywood, Jim Frohna talks about career as director and cinematographer

James "Jim" Frohna knew since he was a child that he wanted to be a film director. After attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison for two years, Frohna went off to film school at New York University.

But the budding film director always wanted to go to Hollywood, so after graduating and spending a few years in New York City, Frohna took the chance and moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career.

It's a career that's included directing multiple episodes of the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning show "Transparent" created by Emmy-winning director Joey Soloway and directing multiple episodes of the show"I Love Dick" starring actress Kathryn Hahn. He also was the cinematographer for Season 2 of the HBO series "Big Little Lies" created by David E. Kelley.

Most recently, Frohna was the cinematographer for the show "Shrinking" and for the upcoming Amazon feature film "The Idea of You" which stars Anne Hathaway.

But before all of this, Frohna was just a kid growing up in Greendale.

From a young age, Frohna had his sights set on the movie business

Frohna was born and raised in Greendale. The middle child of seven siblings, Frohna always had big dreams of moving to Hollywood to be in the movie business. From an early age, Frohna loved lighting and visuals and would often practice his photography skills with his mom's Kodak camera.

Frohna also spent much of his life in Milwaukee and said being a Midwesterner was a really solid foundation for him.

"Milwaukee was such a great town. It was good folks, it was a perfect-sized city where it's not too huge, but also had arts and culture," he said. "I always loved going to the museums and to Summerfest, it was always a huge deal growing up ― and that helped launch me out into the world."

Frohna's fondest memories during his childhood took place at the Root River Parkway.

"Just as a kid going there and roaming through the woods and splashing around in the creek," Frohna said. "There were many days and hours spent just having a great time with friends or with my siblings and having adventures out in the woods."

Frohna also recalled the winters in his childhood. While he doesn't miss the cold, he described the changing seasons, "big winters," sledding and playing in the snow as some of his most nostalgic memories.

Frohna and his family were a part of the Catholic Church, and as a result, Frohna attended St. Alphonsus School in Greendale in his youth. He later attended Pius High School in Wauwatosa.

While in high school, Frohna met his best friend and future cinematographer Kris Kachikis. Both had dreams of being filmmakers and would make short films together during their time at school. Frohna described Kachikis as a person with good energy and even more of an embodiment of a Wisconsinite than he is.

After he graduated from Pius, Frohna knew he wanted to go to film school, but wasn't yet ready to leave the state. So he opted to spend two years as a student at UW-Madison.

A lot of Frohna's family, including his mom and half of his siblings still live in Wisconsin. Whenever he visits, there's one place that's always on his radar.

"Whether I'm by myself or with my family visiting from L.A., the first stop from the airport before going home is to Kopp's Custard," he said. "Got to get the custard from Kopp's because there's nothing like it out here, not even when I lived in New York."

Leaving Wisconsin and moving to New York City

While he was a sophomore at UW-Madison, Frohna applied to a handful of film schools before finally being accepted into New York University, where he would finish his undergraduate degree.

Going to the big city for school was a huge accomplishment for the young cinematographer.

"It was an incredible jump in life to go from Milwaukee to suddenly being in the heart of New York City," Frohna said. "It was so thrilling and so dynamic and so exciting and I loved just being in that energy."

While in film school, Frohna said that he and other students were paired into groups of six and throughout the school year they would make short films. As a student, Frohna and his classmates produced 24 to 25 short films. Each student would rotate jobs.

"Whether it was doing sound or boom operator or being a camera operator or the director ― just getting to play around and having that freedom to see what clicked with each of us, but also just the sheer amount of experience that we got making almost 30 films in one year was sort of worth the price of admission."

Frohna is still good friends with many of his classmates and often checks in with them for life and career updates.

Eventually, Kachikis moved to New York City and the two friends again began making short films together for a few years, but Frohna knew New York City wouldn't be his final destination.

Frohna said at the end of his senior year at film school, before graduation, a teacher told the class something that resonated with him.

"He said, 'You all came to film school. In a year, 85% of you will still be pursuing a career in the film business or will be in the film business, in two years it'll be 65% of you, in five years, it'll be 30% of you and in 10 years it'll be 5% of you.' And I just remember in that moment thinking, I'm going to be in the 5%."

Making the move to Los Angeles

Living in Los Angeles had always been Frohna's dream. To make it even better, his friend Kris Kachikis moved out there a year after he did.

In the beginning, Frohna balanced out his career by scriptwriting and delivering pizzas.

Even while delivering pizzas in his old car, Frohna felt the glamour of being in Hollywood. Eventually, his old friend Kris helped him get into doing TV commercials so they could have similar work schedules to continue their projects.

"He said, 'You know, why don't I try and get you hired on a lighting crew, and that way we can have the same work schedule and then we can have the same open time for writing together,'" Frohna recalled Kachikis saying. "And that continued for a couple of years. And I found that I really loved lighting."

Because he had an interest in lighting since he was a child, it allowed Frohna to progress quickly.

"I very quickly rose up in the lighting department to become the gaffer, who works with cinematographers, but my goal was always to get to storytelling."

Frohna was able to earn money and learn more about the industry by doing commercials, but he was eager to get into directing.

Little did he know, that chance was about to happen. While working as a gaffer on a commercial, the director of photography had a family emergency, giving Frohna the opportunity to lead the project.

"We're on a huge job in San Francisco where we're launching 75,000 super balls down the streets of San Francisco for Sony TVs, and there was a medical emergency in his family," Frohna said. "His wife ended up being OK, but he had to leave the night before we started filming. And I ended up as somebody who knew the whole project."

Frohna ended up stepping into the position of director of photography on the commercial, which he described as a challenging, but amazing opportunity.

"I was scared out of my mind that first morning because I'd never done it before and there was a huge camera department."

By midday, Frohna was comfortable to guide the crew.

"That sort of woke up this new part of me," Frohna said. "I knew I wanted to be in storytelling and I loved movies, but in that moment I was like, if I can handle this situation where there's 24 people and six cameras and all this kind of madness around this, this could be the beginning of a new chapter in my career."

The big break in Frohna's career: teaming with Joey Soloway

By this point, Frohna had started a family; he and his wife had two young children to raise.

He was asked to be the director of photography for a documentary by director Mike Mills, which Frohna describes as the turning point in his career. Mills had written and directed the 2021 film "C'mon C'mon" which starred actor Joaquin Phoenix. Working with Mills brought Frohna attention from other directors, and so it was "a smooth and quick transition from gaffing to becoming a full-time director of photography."

After filming commercials and music videos for about five years, Frohna wanted to try getting into movies, his original goal when he came to Hollywood, and his agent began putting his name forward for various independent films.

"I was up for a number of jobs with different directors who were interested in hiring me, and the answer from the producers was, 'Well, but Frohna has never shot a feature.'"

But one director was willing to give Frohna a shot: Joey Soloway.

Soloway was a director who had produced 36 episodes of the HBO show "Six Feet Under." After Frohna’s agent sent him the script for Soloway's project, Frohna met Soloway, whom Frohna connected with creatively and spiritually.

Frohna said the collaboration felt like it was "meant to be." Soloway's script became the independent film called "Afternoon Delight," an American comedy-drama written and directed by Soloway starring actress Kathryn Hahn.

Frohna was the cinematographer of the project and Soloway captured a best director award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

"Joey won the Best Director award at Sundance in 2013 and so that was a breakthrough unto itself, and then the very next thing that Joey created was the show 'Transparent.'"

"Transparent" is an American comedy-drama television series created by Soloway for Amazon Prime that debuted on February 6, 2014. The story featured a Los Angeles family and their lives after learning their parent is a transgender woman named Maura.

The show captured two Golden Globes Awards in 2015 ― one for Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy, and another for series lead Jeffrey Tambor, who won for Best Actor. Tambor also won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in A Comedy Series.

Frohna was the cinematographer for 39 episodes of the show and called "Transparent" one of the proudest moments of his career.

"It was both funny and serious and sad and sexy ... in all these different ways," Frohna said. "We told the story, a very unique story, of a very unique family at a time when the conversation and the wider culture was just opening up in terms of the trans population in a very positive way."

"I was nominated for an Emmy for the show and that to date has been the most incredible collaborative relationship I've had in the film business."

The two also collaborated on another show created by Soloway called "I Love Dick," which ran from 2016 to 2017, a show based on the book of the same name by Chris Kraus. Kathryn Hahn played the lead.

Working with Soloway not only introduced Frohna to a bigger audience, but it taught him that leadership is far more than just commanding people to do things, Frohna said. From the production crews to hair and makeup stylists and even film extras, Frohna has engaged in the philosophy of not treating people like props, which he says helps everyone follow their vision.

"It was just this kind of beautiful experience of acknowledging we are all in it together," said Frohna. "And so that has shaped how I treat my crew. We're delivering a product, but just the fact that it starts from this kind of place of community and love is what has been my guiding principle."

Some of Frohna's best career moments

Throughout his career, Frohna has worked with a lot of directors and well-known actors and actresses including Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz and Harrison Ford.

Frohna said one of his favorite moments was working with Meryl Streep during Season 2 of "Big Little Lies," a season directed by Andrea Arnold. Streep came on the show that season as the mother-in-law of one of the main characters.

"There was a scene between Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep's character in a kitchen," Frohna described. "Andrea said to me, 'You know, at the end of the scene when Meryl Streep's character walks away, I want you to go with her, but can you have her in the foreground and still see Nicole Kidman's character in the background?'"

To do this particular shot, Frohna would have to shoot walking backwards, an extra challenge because he was shooting the scenes handheld with his camera.

"Meryl's walking towards me, Nicole's in the background, and as I take a step backwards I feel Meryl's hand on my elbow (out of frame) and while she's acting in the scene, she is guiding me so that I'm safe walking backwards," Frohna recalled. "I was like, wow, this is pretty damn cool. My job is pretty awesome."

On shooting the movie 'The Idea of You' with Anne Hathaway

One of Frohna's more recent projects involved working with actress Anne Hathaway.

"I had a really great time working with Anne Hathaway," Frohna said. "She just came with such an open-heartedness and this movie that we did is both a romantic comedy, but then the story goes to some unexpected places, which is part of the fun of and part of the reason why I wanted to do the story."

Frohna said it was another fantastic experience getting to work with someone who works at such a high level of professionalism and talent.

"It was so refreshing to work with someone who is so present and isn't cynical or on their phone when they're on set," he said. "She was a blast to work with. I think it's a really good movie and I'm actually very proud of it."

The movie is set to premiere as the closing night movie at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, on March 16, and it will debut on Amazon Prime Video on May 2.

Frohna's life isn't all about movies

When he's not out filming, Frohna enjoys playing pickleball with his wife, Diana Kunce.

"I've fallen in love with pickleball," he said. "I don't know if it’s in Milwaukee the same way it is here, but I have never been coordinated in any sporting activity or team sport before of any kind. My wife and I started playing together and we've gotten very good."

Frohna and Kunce have been married for 26 years and the couple share two children. Frohna said pickleball allows him and his wife to go out and have fun together in a competitive way.

What does Frohna have planned for the future?

Frohna's future goal is to make his very own film. He wants to write and direct it.

And he'd like to do it in Milwaukee.

"I had some ideas over the last few years. I've prioritized supporting my family and while I've had a fantastic career, I still have the dream of returning to Milwaukee to make a movie."

Frohna and Kunce, who is also a film producer, began working on a TV show idea, writing some scripts during the COVID-19 pandemic. They recently returned to it a few months ago.

Frohna said it still might take some time to do his movie, but noted that a TV series might make it more plausible to achieve his final goal of being a film director.

Frohna said his path to this point hasn't been exactly how he envisioned, but things seemed to fall into place.

"It wasn't the direct path that I thought my life might take or my career, but everything that came before it built up my skills so that when the opportunities first started really coming, it's like I was ready," Frohna said. "I mean, as a film student, you think if in five years out of film school, or three years, I'm going to sell screenplays, I'm going to get a directing job, I'm going to be in the movie business. But it took until I was almost 40. It's like you never know the path life is going to take you."

Editor's Note, 3/11/2024: This story was updated to reflect that Frohna attended UW-Madison for two years, was the cinematographer for Season 2 of "Big Little Lies," was asked to shoot a documentary by director Mike Mills, and that the San Francisco commercial involved Sony TVs. It was also amended 3/13/24 to clarify the timeline of events prior to Frohna connecting with Joey Soloway.

Contact Adrienne Davis at amdavis@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @AdriReportss

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Greendale native Jim Frohna fulfills goal of working in movie business